Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in /home/owatch/www/www.olbermannwatch.com/docs/countdown.php on line 5KO's new contract with MSNBC ends in...0 days 0 hours 0 minutes

At tonight's Republican candidates debate, the pre-debate and post-debate coverage I read will be Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman of MSNBC, of whom there is a report that last October 23rd, Mr. Olberman said, "The leading terrorist group in this country is the Republican Party." And my question: Does the President know why this Republican debate is tolerating such a reported maligner, and does he believe they should?

Let's celebrate our hero candidates first official act for presideancy somehow. Hmmmmmm --- let me think ... I know ! Let's have Eschatz appologize for holding up Olbermann Watch like 4 days in a row! Yeah ! That is the Reagen way (no Mutually Assured Destruction from all of the commenters that are furious over Olbermann Watch for letting an amateur get ahold of the website.)

Gee, it doesn't appear that the GOP is afraid of MSNBC's libnut moderators. Unlike the cowardly Dems who ran scared of Fox News moderators, the GOP looks comfortable to facing the left-wing barrage. By now, they have to be used to it.

As a New Yorker who loved what he did for New York City BEFORE 9/11 I have been thinking that I would be supporting Guiliani in 2008.

So it was with some dismay that I am watching Ron Paul have a better night than Rudy. He comes across as way outside his depth.

Romney is the rock star up on that stage right now. But I noticed that on the "anyone NOT believe in evolution question" you could see him in a long shot raising his hand. It went unremarked upon but jeez...he doesn't believe in evolution? Hmmm.

That leaves McCain among the top guys. I would say he and Romney are the big winners. Rudy is a BIG loser.

As for the remainder, I would have to go with Duncan Hunter as coming across REALLY well. Brownback is not bad.

I can't tell the difference between Huckabee and Gilmor - apparently neither can the producers at MSNBC as they have cut to one or the other in error a couple of time.

Most stupid question of the night: Chris Matthews asking Romney his opinion of priests who would refuse to serve the Eucharist to politicians who support abortion. And I think Romney gave the correct answer.

Olby interviewed several of the Dem candidates on Countdown before their debate was ever held. How many of these Repub candidates did he do pre-debate Countdown interviews with? How many will EVER get invited onto The Hour of Spin.

Let's see. Herr Olbermann has railed against both McCain and Giuliani in Special Education Komments. So far only the lower-tier candidates have dropped by to let Olby stumble over a few awkwardly worded quesitons. Does anyone really think either McCain or Giuliani will consent to be interviewed by the infamous, deplorable one? If they show up at all it will probably be after Chris Matthews is back so they don't have to deal with Olbermahn.

Tonight I watched MSDNC instead of O'Reilly for the first time. I was kicking myself afterwards. The questions by the two moderators of this debate were the worst I have ever seen. They sounded like a 5 year old had written them down.
DEEERRRRRRRRR Would you like to see Bill Clinton back in the White house?
DEEEEEEEERERRR Have you seen Al Gore's movie?
DEEEEEEEEEEEEERRR Would you hire Carl Rove?
I have a question. Does NBC still have a News Organization or are they an arm of Comedy Central?
The candidate I would automatically vote for is the one who would have told Chris Mathews to take his stupid questions and stick them up his ass.
I didn't agree that the Republicans should boycott the MSDNC debate but now I think they should have. MSDNC might as well have Rosie and Joy Babar asking the questions

Why would anyone want to wiggle their way out of that? The "Hate Crimes" bill is a racist bill. It says that crimes against some groups are more heinous than crimes against other groups but since all liberals are racist, you would not understand that.

Wouldn't you have loved "Richard" McCain (what is it with Olby and his loons calling everyone Richard???) or Guilliani to have answered "Former sportscaster political hacks masquerading as journalists who engage in unwarranted and factually challenged attacks on those who he disagrees with in order gain adoration from a few militant liberals, and the networks who put them on without regard for the truth."

BTW, isn't CD going to have to go on hiatus soon until after the 2008 elections due to equal time laws?

...The three leading candidates — Giuliani, McCain and Romney — and their seven lesser-known rivals attempted to do just that Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. They debated for 90 minutes in the shadow of the late president's Air Force One suspended from above and before Reagan's widow, Nancy, who sat in the front row of the audience.

They stressed the importance of persisting in Iraq and defeating terrorists, called for lower taxes and a muscular defense, and supported spending restraint.

One by one, they invoked Reagan 19 times. In contrast, Bush's name was barely uttered; the president's job approval rating languishes in the 30s.

"They went out of the their way on multiple occasions, no matter the question, to associate themselves with Reagan," said Mitchell McKinney, a political communication professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "They tried their best to not be explicitly bashing or attacking Bush. Most of them tried, in some way, to take a pass on that."....

...Each largely stuck to their talking points — and often reverted to their stump speeches — as they sought to present themselves as the most conservative candidate in the pack, and a worthy heir to the political legacy of Reagan...

*Now come the most backward of the Real Raygun Repubbies*

...The field split on another issue, with Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record) of Kansas, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo raising their hands when asked who did not believe in evolution...

I think Romney is quite obviously the strongest candidate, in the sense that he is the most like Bill Clinton. He will say anything and do anything to be president. He will be tarred and feathered as a flip-flopper when the scrutiny comes. Plus he believes Joseph Smith is a god and Jesus rode around on Dinosaurs. There is absolutely no way he can win the primary. But none of these guys can. And yet someone has to.

There has to be another candidate coming. The only one of these guys that can dream of winning is Giuliani, and that is only if he shuts up and looks pretty and there is another terrorist attack in the U.S.-- not in the home state of one of the other candidates because then that candidate would collect the terrorism premium.

Posted by: Sir Loin of Beef at May 4, 2007 12:22 PM
SLOB, it's her job! But, you wouldn't know this. It's not Palooza Pelosi's job, her job is to sit on her duff and bat her eyes uncontrollably. When we bomb, you wackos say we should just "talk" to them. When we "talk" to them that is wrong, too. Keep showing your idiocy.

When we bomb, you wackos say we should just "talk" to them. When we "talk" to them that is wrong, too. Keep showing your idiocy.

Posted by: royalking at May 4, 2007 2:07 PM

That was sarcasm, dolt. Of course its not wrong to talk to international opponents - its always the thing to do. The only reason Condi talked to the syians, however, is because the administration was totally upstaged by Pelosi, Issa, et.al. in their bipartisan outreach. The hypocrisy lies on the right, who called Pelosi a traitor for her efforts to salvage our diplomatic credibility.

Well, I don't know much about the LDS religion, but I believe that they think Mr. Smith is a prophet, but not a God. I have not heard that Mr. Romney believes in a "young earth" theory either. By saying that Romney is like Clinton in that he will say anything to win, you have not really made a very profound statement. All of the candidates in the race from both parties are going to do what they think have to do to win--or do you have a different opinion, VOK? The real question is who has the best qualifications, temperment, judgment and positions on the issues to lead our country. Is there some candidate you want to defend who you think represents unfailing truth, honor and sincerity?

" but I believe that they think Mr. Smith is a prophet, but not a God."

I was being a bit toungue in cheek there hank. Joseph Smith indeed is not a god in Mormonism. He is just the guy who found the magical golden tablets that disappeared after he quickly memorized them, the tablets which said he should start marching west and "marying" as many young women as possible. Who am I to judge whether that is nuts or not? Sounds like fun to me. Until the wicked townspeople try to castrate you for raping their daughters.

Likewise, I'm not sure Romney actually thinks Jesus RODE dinosaurs, he may think they didn't fit on the ark and so they all drowned before Jesus could saddle 'em up.

Again, that is tongue in cheek too. All we know for sure is that he thinks evolution is a big fat lie. Also we can be pretty sure that once people start to look at what Mr. Romney says now versus what he was saying and doing two years ago, he is going to have some 'splaining to do.

"The real question is who has the best qualifications, temperment, judgment and positions on the issues to lead our country."

That's emphatically not the question in the Republican primary. The question there is who can bluster the loudest about how many Muslim skulls they are going to crack to make us all safe as kittens, and who's willing to do worse things to the "bad guys," and how far they will follow them towards hell once they have died of their "enhanced interrogation." It's also about who combs their hair more like Ronald Regan. This is why Ron Paul, the only conservative up there, lost so badly.

"Romney is the rock star up on that stage right now. But I noticed that on the "anyone NOT believe in evolution question" you could see him in a long shot raising his hand. It went unremarked upon but jeez...he doesn't believe in evolution? Hmmm." Robert Cox

Robert Cox, I don't know if you have corrected yourself but Romney did not raise his hand.
Do us all a favor and stop cheerleading for McCain. He was dreadful in the debate. I know you like RINO's Robert, but McCain can't win a Presidential election and not voting for a tax cut, is just not conservative. He also was made to look foolish by trying to suck up to the left wing media and then getting stabbed in the back.

"Robert Cox, I don't know if you have corrected yourself but Romney did not raise his hand."

Someone clear this up. In the meanwhile, here's a little gem from prophet-not-god-and-certainly-not-horny-con-artist Joseph Smith:

"If the people will let us alone we will preach
the gospel in peace. But if they come on to molest
us, we will establish our religion by the sword. We
will trample down our enemies and make it one gore of
blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.
I will be to this generation a second Mohammed, whose
motto in treating for peace was "the Alcoran [Koran]
or the Sword." So shall it eventually be with us --
"Joseph Smith or the Sword!"

What's the point here VOK? That Romney is disqualified from the GOP nomination just because he subscribes to a faith that you think is wierd? I'm not a Mormon and I imagine you are not either, but I think this kind of thinking in which we judge folks as being quailfied or not to be president based on their religious faith is a rank form of bigotry (unless adherence to the theoligical tenets of such faith tradition would bring about harm to our nation). Just because Joseph Smith made some proclamation 150 years ago that he would meet violence with violence, you cannot say that this represents who Mormons are or what they believe today. I don't subscribe to Mr. Smith's beliefs or methods, but you must remember he and his followers suffered intense persecution and Smith himself met a violent end at the hands of persecutors (this would be called a hate crime today if Mr. Smith had asserted he was gay).

Finally, I would note that both Orrin Hatch and Harry Reid are Mormons and I would not say that ourt country has gone to the dogs because these men of the Mormon faith have held high positions in government. If you have a problem with Romney on the issues, this is where you should focus. This Mormon stuff is a waste of time.

"Finally, I would note that both Orrin Hatch and Harry Reid are Mormons and I would not say that ourt country has gone to the dogs because these men of the Mormon faith have held high positions in government."

Well they haven't helped things much, quite frankly, and I have no idea how much of that is attributable to their belief in kooky garbage. You on the Reid bandwagon now?

"What's the point here VOK? That Romney is disqualified from the GOP nomination just because he subscribes to a faith that you think is wierd?"

No, that pretty much DOES qualify him for the Republican nomination in my eyes. I think you have to belong to some goofy cult nowadays. But in the eyes of the base voters, I'm afraid it's going to be "Ixnay on the ecretunderwearsay." The fundies will have a fit that a rival cult is coming to town. The only things they agree on is that Jesus rode a dinosaur, and it's your holy duty to bonk 15 year olds.

Again, this one is even more tongue in cheek. But the serious answer is, as you point out, that while Romney believes some nutty stuff, so did Bush, and look, that turned out just fine.

Damn. Can't... get... tongue... out of.... cheeeek.

Sorry Hank. It's a funny topic. It was a funny debate. Just 10 guys falling all over themselves to see who will be more brutal to the darned arabs and who is most "Reganesque." The party is in shambles. One of them even talked about going after the Muslim Brotherhood...which is just scary stupid.

Nutty republicans right VOK. How about you liberals and your Scientology or your worship of trees and the earth mother.
I love that you liberals all say that evolution is the law of the land but you all are so afraid of any animals going extinct. According to evolution, animals go extinct when they can't evolve enough to cope with their environment or their predators. Isn't the extinction of animals a natural reality of evolution? Humans are animals too according to evolution so how do we cause "un-natural" extinction, if we are just another animal in the natural world?

"Nutty republicans right VOK. How about you liberals and your Scientology or your worship of trees and the earth mother."

Er...first, scientology is definitely not liberal. It's a slightly more or less lunatic version of mormonism. You're right on the paganism/earthworship thing, and as soon as the democrats include a some doped-up wikkan in their primaries, we can talk.

"Humans are animals too according to evolution so how do we cause "un-natural" extinction, if we are just another animal in the natural world?"

That's right factor! And so since we natural humans made nuclear weapons, nuclear holocaust would be natural too! Instant evolution! Only three-headed cockroaches survive! Oh the rapture!!

Sorry VOK, you can't have it both ways. Per god of science Darwin, if animals can't adapt to humans, then they don't deserve to live. We are at the top of the food chain and the better catch up or else. So tell your polar bear friends, and buddy the spotted owl they better learn to make hand guns quick. Survival of the fittest per god Darwin. I can't wait till deer season.

Perhaps if you need to bust off a few rounds before then, you can get some of your buddies to put on some antlers and run around your backyard. If your aim is as sharp as your wit, you should still have someone to drink with when you're done.

"Great coverage, however this was a clear example that Keith Olbermann was out of his league here. He’s great when the prompter’s running, but when he was forced to go off script and ask questions to his guests and banter with the panelists, he was lost. Chris Matthews looked far superior and polished as an anchor, and completely took over on several occasions.

Olbermann’s post-debate interview w/ Bill Richardson was particularly embarrassing, awkwardly ending the interview after a long pause — apparently he didn’t have a question handy. Matthews and particularly Scarborough were great. Olbermann, disappointing."

I lifted this post from a popular left wing blog. It was full of posts with similar content, some much worse. These are HIS fans. A lot of people admitted they had to change the channel when KK came on! I even added the quotation marks so lil mikey won't have anything to cry about..

Posted by: LMAO at May 4, 2007 7:00 PM
LAMO, there's a little thing called archery season, it starts in August here and in July in the coastal range. Do gays hunt, wild game, that is? No wonder you don't know when the seasons are. My mistake, it makes sense now.

Romney is ok, I'm waitin' for Fred to jump in. How bout that msnbc "debate." They gave Romney a chance to answer his questions with 2500 words and gave Rudy only half the amount and McKennedy somewhere in between. MSNBS is a total joke. Overshadowing the front runner to make their party look better, cowards.

...and while we're on the subject of right-wingers and crackpot cults:

"The Bush 2005 Inaugural Committee received the maximum $250,000 donation from Moon's Washington Television Center the entity that owns the large office building at 650 Massachusetts Avenue in the District of Columbia. In December 2005 the President's younger brother, Neil, was spotted touring Taiwan and the Philippines with Moon. Less than a year later Business Week published an article titled "No Bush Left Behind" profiling Neil Bush's company Ignite!, Inc. The company sells a high tech teaching aid called "Curriculum on Wheels" or COWs. The article states "A foundation linked to the controversial Reverend Sun Myung Moon has donated $1 million for a COWs research project in Washington ( D.C.)-area schools."

From non-profit tax returns and media reports we see that at least $3,335,000 has flowed from the Unification Movement to Bush family members or charities since George W. Bush has taken office. "

No, the extinction of animals that have survived millions of years, and the way they are dying out, demonstrates it's anything BUT natural.
As your brain continues to get smaller and smaller, we look forward to your demise in the very near future.